Warden's Keep
} |name = Warden's Keep |pagetitle = Warden's Keep |image = Warden's keep.jpg |px = 270px |location = World Map |appearances = Dragon Age: Origins - Warden's Keep }} Warden's Keep is downloadable content available on the Xbox Live Marketplace, the PlayStation Store, and BioWare's official site for the PC. It is included in the Digital Deluxe Edition and the Ultimate Edition. Warden's Keep grants players access to the fortress of Soldier's Peak, a quest to unlock the mysteries of the fortress, two new talents/spells for each class from the Power of Blood school, two achievements, and various items. In addition, Warden's Keep includes two new merchants and a Party Storage Chest that allows the player to store additional inventory. Plot Centuries before the events of Dragon Age: Origins, the Grey Wardens of Ferelden took up arms against their kingdom's rulers. This tumultuous event led to the expulsion of the Grey Wardens from Ferelden, leaving their ancient fortress of Soldier's Peak to the ravages of time. This downloadable content provides the Warden with an opportunity to aid Levi Dryden in redeeming his family name by proving that Sophia Dryden, his great great grandmother and commander of the Grey Wardens at Soldier's Peak, acted honorably. Overview The highlight of this downloadable content is the fortress of Soldier's Peak and the eponymous quest. The quest takes the Warden through the forgotten keep, where the restless spirits of the Grey Wardens who died there re-enact the moments of their deaths. The keep is also plagued with undead wardens and soldiers, and demons left behind which were summoned during the battle. The Warden uncovers the motivation behind Sophia Dryden's treasonous rebellion against King Arland from the Demon that possesses her corpse, and within the castle's tower, an ancient Grey Warden Blood Mage, Avernus, works to repair the damage in the veil. The Warden can choose to free the demon into the world by slaying Avernus, or to destroy the demon. The Warden must also seal the veil, with or without the demon's help, preventing more demons from entering the keep and laying its spirits to rest. Soon thereafter, Levi Dryden and his family move into Soldier's Peak, preparing the keep as their new trading outpost and setting up a smithy. Ancient History Alchemical Concoction On a desk in Avernus' study - the final chamber before the room where the Warden encounters Avernus himself - is a jar containing an "Alchemical Concoction". A journal documenting Avernus's experiments lies on another desk nearby; reading it triggers the final cut scene, which reveals he was learning how to tap the power of the Darkspawn blood ingested by Grey Wardens during the Joining. If the Warden interacts with the jar before reading the journal, the jar is unidentifiable; only if the Warden triggers the cut scene will they realise it is the final fruit of Avernus' horrific research. Whether or not the Warden knows what the jar is, drinking it unlocks the Power of Blood talents, as well as the Diabolist achievement. Party members do not seem to react to any of the Warden's decisions. The Drydens Once the quest is completed, the Dryden family will set up shop outside the Keep. Two merchants will be available, and they give the best discount in the game (better than the dwarves at your party camp). Levi Dryden's brother, Mikhael Dryden, is a smith, and has every conceivable non-magical weapon and armor for sale. Meteor Metal Ore While traveling overland, the player might come across a crater. Within the crater is an ore that Mikhael Dryden can fashion into a longsword or a great-sword. This sword of unsurpassed craftsmanship is given the name Starfang, and it is made of star metal, a unique untier material. }} Items The following items are available in this downloadable content and may be found in Soldier's Peak or during their travels in Ferelden. , an above average Crossbow. , the longsword of the Grey Warden Asturian. , a robe that improves Blood Magic. , a belt that reduces hostility. , the two-handed greatsword or: , the longsword. , set of armor once worn by Warden Commanders. , a shield with a low random drop chance identical to Duncan's Shield. , a powerful magical staff. Codex entries The following codex entries are available in this downloadable content. They can be found in Soldier's Peak. Power of Blood abilities Mage spells Rogue talents Warrior talents Achievements and trophies Bugs * Sometimes the player may not be able to look at weapon/armor/accessories stats while playing through the DLC. This can be fixed by reloading a save. * If the player or a companion levels during the first fight with the demons on the second floor, the door into the next room (the Shrine) will stay locked, and the only way to complete the quest will be reverting to a prior save. * After completing the keep, it is possible to zone back into the tower and then back again; Levi has dialogue meant for later. * Occasionally, the trade option will not bring up the trade screen. * Sometimes the location on the map disappears along with items found (this is probably due to the deactivated status of the DLC). If that happens, just quit and restart the game. * On rare occasions, the player might face 9 undead skeletons instead of the Archivist and the two rage demons; if this happens the Warden Scribe will drop a heavy metal shield with the Warden-Commander emblem on it, comparable in looks to the Grey Warden Tower Shield without the stats. At first it may appear to be invisible, in which case the player should try re-equipping the shield. * After killing Avernus, in some cases you may find that once the cut scene completes, enemies are detected in another room, which may require opening the door prior to fighting them. Once battle mode commences, doors cannot be opened, and there is no way to escape battle mode without resorting to a save, due to the room being too small to get far back enough to dis-alert the party. This can be averted by quickly opening the door before battle mode kicks in. On the PS3 the player can simply press up on the D-Pad to focus on the door during combat allowing you to open the door and attack the enemies that have spawned. When that is done, the battle mode ends and you will be free to leave the area. * During the scene of repairing the Veil, it may happen that the demons that should emerge never do. The NPC who is commencing the repair just moves to the side and does nothing. Using a non-character targeting effect (e.g. fireball) to knock Sophia/Avernus into the ritual circle he/she was heading towards begins the sealing ritual and the demons begin to emerge. ** Another solution is to exit the area through the door to the bridge, then toggle graphical options such as "Frame buffer effects", "V-Sync" and "Anti-aliasing". Return to the area and after the cutscene, battle should progress. Some users report altering resolution also helps. ** You can also use the console cheats and type "runscript zz_gwb_debug" without the quotes, then choose "make jump to" > "warden keep (repaired)" and that will fix/teleport you to the end of the DLC but will not complete the quest line. ** A alterative console command option is to use "runscript rubberband" without quotes to restart the NPC's path and unstick them from the geometry. * If you place an item in the storage chest, leave and then return, there is a chance for non-unique items to change their properties; e.g., an Iron Longsword may transmute into a Silverite Longsword, etc. Trivia * Levi Dryden is also present in the game before the DLC is installed and talking to him will let you purchase and download the DLC through dialogue choices. This has been criticized as breaking immersion - for example, in the Penny Arcade comic of 6th November, 2009. (The comic is also notable in that the Grey Warden in the comic named Dog "Barkspawn", and Bioware later referenced this in The Darkspawn Chronicles.) * If the Warden returns to the cleared keep with Shale as a party member, there will be a group of three ravens on the ground who hop around and follow Shale. It's not possible to interact with them, but anytime Shale moves the ravens are quick to follow. * In Dragon Age II, it is possible to find Avernus's research on a dead body on The Wounded Coast. There is a potion which will grant 2 attribute points upon drinking. * In Dragon Age II, if you let Sophia go in the previous imported save, you will meet her again in the quest Terror on the Coast. External links * Gamespot Article and Video on Warden's Keep * Warden's Keep downloadable content at BioWare Category:Warden's Keep Category:Dragon Age: Origins downloadable content Category:Real world articles